World of Warcraft News
A week's worth of WoW news to share. Last weekend saw the first anti-Ebaying lawsuit as Blizzard makes good on it's claim. This week they've released a patch for the game, adding in new content and unleashing the Holidays on Azeroth. Blizzard has also put up an intriguing preview of PvP Battlegrounds. From that article: "Lower-level players who wanted to contribute in other ways to the battle could also do so by undertaking PvP-related quests, such as capturing wolves or rams to provide mounts for cavalry charges, claiming a nearby mine and ferrying resources back to the main base to upgrade allied troops, or capturing enemy graveyards to lengthen the run back to the frontlines for revived adversaries."
True to its nature, Blizzard has created a game that improves on almost every aspect of the genre instead of trying to be too original. The largest drawback to their game is the lack of meaningful PvP, which many seasoned veterans are drawn too. However, there is some speculation that they will go the DAOC route (with keeps, PvP points, realm wide benefits) that will add some meaning to PvP. Even in beta, it was more polished than most games were after two-three years in the market. Even with a spectacular launch where over 250,000 units were sold in just the first day, and had a record 100,000 playing on the afternoon of the launch, they seem to be commited to improving and growing the game, and that is very good to see. It is not everyone's cup of tea, but game companies can definatly take some lessons from someone like Blizzard. Their reputation is well earned, and they continue to live upto it.